It is Hal Jordan Appreciation week. In honor of HJAW…

Huh.

I got nothing. Moving right along–

I love 100 Bullets. You all know this already, right? I’m confident that I can prove that it is the finest piece of comic literature amongst a field filled with self-absorbed people whining about their life and tights’n’fights.

Here’s the long and short of 100 Bullets: The Trust are the scary behind the scenes people that are usually referred to as “they.” They are obscenely rich and outside of the law without being outlaws. The Minutemen were a group of men who protected The Trust from threats both foreign and internal. If a member of The Trust moved against another, the Minutemen would handle it decisively. A few years back, The Trust tired of this and had the Minutemen eliminated in Atlantic City… or so they thought. Agent Graves, leader of the Minutemen, faked their deaths and dropped them into new lives through hypnotism. Now, he’s reactivating his army and appears to be in the process of taking careful revenge on The Trust.

One of my favorite characters in 100 Bullets is Isabelle “Dizzy” Cordova. A reformed gang member whose husband and son were murdered while she was in prison, Dizzy is both one of the reader’s many POV characters and a moral center for the series.

Graves approached her with a briefcase and revealed that two policemen were responsibile for the death of her new family. The briefcase held a pistol and 100 bullets, both of which were completely untraceable. They were “magic bullets,” and any police investigation that involved them would be canceled and wiped away clean. It was a license to kill.

By the end of that arc, it was clear that Dizzy was destined for greater things. She’s appeared throughout the series and you can see a clear progression from broken-hearted girl to grown woman. She’s still young, though quite some time has passed since she first crossed paths with Graves, or rather, since Graves began grooming her for his purposes.

You see, Dizzy is “The Girl,” and she is slated to become one of the new, post-Atlantic City Minutemen. Even more so than the others, Dizzy is slated to be a check within the group itself, as she has been given both a reason (or two!) and the training to kill Agent Graves if and when the time comes.

Time will tell how she ends up, but as-is, she’s easily my favorite female comics character. She’s got heart, she’s got character, and she’s awesome. She’s had an interesting character arc, too. She’s gone from ex-con with a death wish to a person with a fierce wish to live.

Early in the series, she’s told that she had every right to kill a man. She would have gotten away with it. “Well,” she responds, “that don’ make it right, knowhumsayin’?”

That’s Dizzy.

I have trouble with Green Arrow. Ollie Queen has only had a handful of stories that ever really interested me, and even then only slightly. It doesn’t help that the past few years of his book have been not to my taste at all. Longbow Hunters was good, and I’ve been meaning to read Grell’s run on the character because of it. It might help me “get” Ollie.

I think it boils down to his character. He’s this super lefty, hero of and to the people type of guy. He’s that annoying, loudmouth, brash guy who I don’t think anyone likes. He’d be positively frustrating to hang out with. I dig Black Canary, but I have no idea what she sees/saw in him.

Plus, there’s this kind of thing.

So, in short, Ollie Queen is an annoying slimeball with a stupid mustache. I realize that this is a plot point in Justice League Elite, but I don’t see it being even remotely out of character for Ollie. Shoot, one of his character traits is “unfaithful.”

Also, Hawkeye has the same gimmick but is at least fifteen times as cool, Connor Hawke is more interesting, and Oliver Queen having a win against Prometheus is ridiculous. I actually like Mark Millar’s Ultimate Hawkeye more than I like Oliver Queen. Hate may be too strong a word, but I definitely am not an Ollie fan.

Our very own Thomas Wilde, in an attempt to further destroy any free time he has, has created a new LJ community for those of you out there curious about comics talk. It has a very cool focus and it would be nice to see it grow. It is called Comics 101, but it isn’t this Comics 101. Pure coincidence, I think. Anyway, the URL for it is here and you can join the community here. Copy/pasted from the comm info:

This is Comics 101, a Livejournal community dedicated to the discussion of comics. If you’re a long-time comics fan who wants to spread the word about his or her favorite books, feel free to post a few scans and talk the books up.

If you’re a new comics fan who’s looking for recommendations or character backstory, please ask, and our trained geeks will be right with you.

Comics 101 is a place for intelligent discussion, or as intelligent as a discussion of comics can get. Please do not flame other users, post requests for illegal scans of comics, or make substanceless “introduction” posts. All posts to the community must deal with comics some way, whether it’s with scanned pages, an information request, a discussion of recent solicitations, or other relevant topics.

Please put all scanned pages behind an LJ cut.

This is not a slash-friendly community. If you’re interested in discussing out-of-context panels, slash fiction, or “‘shipping,” please head over to scans_daily.

Comics 101 is roughly affiliated with the 4th Letter.

By “not slash friendly” he doesn’t mean “Arrgh slashers!” It’s more of an “Arrgh, canon only please!” sort of thing. If you’ve ever seen some of the posts on scans_daily devolve into fights over whether Batman makes googoo eyes at Superman more than Robin, you’d understand.

So go forth, tell us about some bomb comics or ask questions about something you’ve always wondered. No topic is taboo, but I think Thomas would rather stick more to things that can be backed up with canon rather than fan conjecture. It’s looking like a pretty laid back place, so go and have some fun.

In other, non-comics news– you folks like video games? My favorite gaming magazine (and yours :argh:) recently launched a new wiki called Hardcore Gamer Wiki, a place to stockpile tons of info on video games. If you’d like to help fill it out, pop over there, make an account, scope out the rules, and get to writing. Got a favorite game? Make a page for it. Is your favorite game underrepresented by its entry? Edit it!

The home page of the mag, of course, is hardcoregamer.com. You can find free downloadable issues of the mag on there and a button that will lead you to a place where you can go and subscribe to the mag for a year for 24.95.

100 Bullets came out this week. 🙂

NEWSARAMA.COM: NEW JOE FRIDAYS – WEEK 24, A WEEKLY Q&A WITH JOE QUESADA

Longtime readers to the blog, all one of you, know that I think very, very highly of Eduardo Risso. 100 Bullets is a true 50/50 collaboration that works out into a beautiful book. Brian Vaughan and Risso were announced to be on a book called “Logan” I think during con season 2005, but nothing was officially shown. This week’s Joe Fridays has pages and they are tops.

Really, Risso is an incredible talent. If his work on Logan is half as good as Batman: Broken City, I’m going to be sold. He does great emotions, great action, and great character bits. He also draws snarls like no other!

Anyway, scroll down past Mike Deodato’s art for Thunderbolts to see Risso’s three preview pages, uncolored. I like his take on Wolveroonie’s hair.

I’m still mixed on T-bolts. I like Ellis, yeah, but Deodato managed to make me stop reading Spider-Man after JRjr left. His art is muddy and his people ugly, and not ugly in that Quitely/Risso/Robertson style that looks good.

Check out the rest of Joe Fridays for this bit in the comics for kids section:

NRAMA: Most impactful storyline?
JQ: How about two, The New Girl in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #6-#10. The Gwen Thing, in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #9.

NRAMA: MVT – Most Valuable Title?
JQ: Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

NRAMA: MVC – Most Valuable Creator?
JQ: Sean McKeever.

Yeah, buddy. Spider-Man :love: MJ is the best Spidey book out right now, I guarantee. Don’t let anyone tell you different. And is that Firestar on the new cover there? Man! Things are looking up. I’m sad that Takeshi Miyazawa is pulling back to do only covers, but David Hahn is a good replacement. Bite Club was excellent!

Also, holy crap, Marvel Adventures Avengers (the best Avengers book out, btw) vs Ego the Living Planet, who appears to be in love with Earth? Yes! Sold!

Also, c’mon guys, read the below post 4l is for… David (and Cassandra) Cain! I need to know if I’m crazy or if it makes sense. Don’t make me beg.

Okay, I’ve got some room to breathe, so let’s close some tabs and hit you guys off with some knowledge!

Seven Soldiers #1 is almost here! Scope the seven page preview for a look at what is sure to be a great finale to the best megaseries ever. Oh, baby, October 25th can’t come quick enough!

I’ve got a three part interview with Brian Azzarello that is honestly a must-read. Part one, part two, and part three. As usual, 100 Bullets is the best comic ever go buy it blah blah Loveless blah blah Deathblow blah blah awesome. Seriously, Azz writes great stuff, so check his interviews and buy his books. We get confirmation (again, possibly) that DC is going to support 100 Bullets through to the end, so I’m a happy camper.

Lisa Fortuner discusses the uncanny valley in comics and I pop up in the comments feed. This could turn out to be an interesting discussion, but only I’ve commented so far.

Gavok is a stupidhead. That’s not a link or anything, I just wanted to let you know that he’s got a funny face.

Now, I’ve got a personal rule on this site, which I’ve technically already broken by writing about Patriot a while back. I don’t like to talk about comics that I don’t like. I do enough of dealing with stuff I dislike in real life, you know? I don’t hold Gavok or Thomas to this rule, it’s just a personal thing. I don’t like to talk about bad comics unless I can get a laugh out of it or there’s some larger point behind it. Bruce Jones on Nightwing? :loleyes:. Winick on [variable]? 😆 again. Millar on Civil War?

I could say a lot. Instead, I’ll just say this: read Giffen on Annihilation instead. It’s the best “big event” going on right now. Civil War has had some sweet tie-ins (Wolverine, Captain America) but the main series is a joke.

On the other hand, Annihilation has Drax and his young sidekick Cammi, a not-stupid Richard “Nova” Rider, Gamora, planets exploding, Galactus as a weapon of mass destruction, Annihilus with the quantum bands, Annihilus killing Quasar to get the quantum bands, Quasar being killed, Thanos as scheming trickster god, and Phyla-vell. It is excellent and well worth your time. Also, Quasar died in it.

More detailed content later on. I need to take some time to chillax. I updated the sidebar, by the way. Can you tell what’s new?

A quickie!

David Mack, (very informative site here), is one of my most favorite creators. Kabuki: The Alchemy is hands down the best comic Marvel puts out and the second best comic being published after my beloved 100 Bullets. His Echo – Vision Quest arc on Daredevil was a high point for the series and for Wolverine in particular.

What I’m trying to say is that David Mack is the man and you would do well to read his works. If anything, pick up the first few issues of The Alchemy. They’re well worth your time and I guess are “deep” comics if you want your pretentious comic artsnob card.

I prefer to call them “good” comics, myself. Mack has a lot of interesting things to say about life and living. Check it out. Also his first name is awesome and that practically makes us brothers (see what i did there?).

(I kind of feel like I’m doing Mack a disservice by not mentioning the art on Kabuki or Echo, but, crap, man. I don’t think I could do him justice. His stuff just works and it all goes toward servicing the story. There is a reason why Kabuki forms her thoughts as a children’s book in a recent issue, and it isn’t because she’s writing one. It’s because children’s books are meant to teach.)

You can find the list, plus covers, over at Newsarama.

My commentary on the interesting books lies after the jump, and I’ve included the solicit text for them, too!
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If I’m posting on this here comics blahblahblog, I try to ensure that we’re working with snark-free waters. Not these Snark Free Waters, but similar in spirit nonetheless. Personally, I feel that comics are too awesome to waste sniping at each other and the creators. If I have a grievance, I’ll air it out professionally, courteously, and in a coherent manner. If I can at all help it, you’ll never hear the words “(author) is a hack” come out of my mouth. 99% of the time that word is thrown around, it’s completely untrue, and there’s really a better way to say “I don’t like this guy’s work.”

So, in the spirit of the idea that comics are freaking awesome and we’re all freaking awesome for reading them, even you in the back with the bad haircut, I’m going to present to you a Cool Comics Love-In. It’s a snapshot of what I like in comics right now, be they single issues, series, or other, and you better like it, too, or else I’ll and hopefully you’ll dig it as well. Let’s see if I can do these three or four at a time, once or twice a week okay?
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So, anyone who spends any amount of time speaking to me tends to find out that I am very, very pro-black. There’s a song by dead prez that goes, “Thirty-one years ago I would’ve been a [Black] Panther.” This is so true in my case that I have actually gone back in time and helped found a chapter of the Black Panther Party in Brooklyn. I did this when I was a little older. Time travel is tricky, all right?

I was sitting here thinking, as us intellectual types are wont to do, and I’m not feeling the love, comics. You aren’t treating your black characters right. You call Jason Rusch, the new Firestorm, a token, an affirmative action quota kid, and all kinds of other nasty names. Bishop? Bishop had a perm. What kind of self-respecting, non-pimp black man wears a perm? Virgil “Static” Hawkins and his imprintmates at Milestone went the way of the dodo, despite being some of the best comics to come out of the ’90s. Static was the first Ultimate Spider-Man, if you get me. Don’t even get me started on the reaction to Captain America: Truth – Red, White, and Black, or the kind of glaring lack of writers of color at the big two.

It’s cool, though. Blacks in comics have come a long way. Luke Cage used to be a patently offensive stereotype, though he’s been pretty well gentrified now. Stepin Fetchits abounded during the early years of comics. Comics great Will Eisner even had his own little stereotypical black kid running around. Did we have it as bad as Chop-chop and Egg-fu? Well, yeah. Stereotypes, unless played very carefully, tend to be ugly, ugly things.

Anyway, this is all introduction to the meat of the matter. A lot of black heroes are wack, but there are some gems, too. For every Black Goliath there’s a Black Panther, dig? So check the list and let me know what you think. Read the rest of this entry �